Progress in Paradise... Maybe the title today should be “pooped in Paradise” instead :) Bright and early this morning, the Fellowship of the Mustard Pullers gathered again in our field. Tim D., myself, and Maria S. and her kids Nicolas, Abby, and Sarah all attacked the remaining quarter acre or so of mustard. And we emerged victorious! About three hours after we started, there wasn't a mustard plant anywhere to be seen on the 7.5 acres of alfalfa that Tim D. is running (that's on a combination of 5 acres of his land, and 2.5 acres of ours). The kids were being paid by Tim, by the hour, and they were eagerly pursuing their mustard-derived riches. However, when we temporarily ran of mustardly things to do (because we were waiting for Tim to return from dumping a load of mustard so we could load him up with another), they spontaneously started moving some irrigation pipe from the field to its storage location. Such initiative involving physical labor is not something I'd ever expect a kid in California to do, but here it's pretty much the norm. When the kids know help is needed (and they know it with Tim), they're on the lookout for things they can do to help. It's almost enough to give me hope for the future, except that I've met all too many of the California-style kids.

After all that work (the last half or so in the hot sun), I'm not feeling too energetic today :)

Utah street names... One of the things that took some getting used to here is the street names. Well, really, the lack of street names! Very few streets here actually have names at all. Instead, they're numbered in a uniform system, and sometimes have an additional highway name.

For instance, our property here is bordered by two roads, each running north/south. On the east side of our property, the road is mainly known by it's highway name: State 165. That road is also known as “200 West”, which means it's 2 blocks west of Main Street in Paradise. Every town has a Main Street and a Center Street, laid out at 90° to each other (forming a cross). Their intersection is the zero/zero point of a coordinate system that names all other roads in that town. The road on the west side of our property is “400 West” – which is, of course, 4 blocks west of Main Street in Paradise.

While all this was confusing at first, now that we've figured it out we're finding it to be very convenient. If someone gives us an address, we immediately know where it is. We don't need a map. There are only a dozen or so towns in all of Cache Valley, and we've learned where all of them are. If someone gives us an address like, say, “435 N 500 E, Providence” – then we know exactly where that is and how to get there without needing a map at all. Good trick!

“I cannot imagine the horror that could’ve occurred if people were sitting around with concealed weapons, this thing started and you had a full-scale gunfight. You might not even have three survivors.”

So his take is that had the victims been able to defend themselves, more people would have died. That's such an utterly stupid analysis that I am at a loss for words. My pistol-packing mama wasn't, though: she thinks Mr. Shrum is “missing a few wires up there”. Quite possibly!

It seems rather obvious to me that if even one person inside that church had had a gun, the results would have been different – and fewer people would have died, Mr. Shrum's moronic views notwithstanding. In order for that to have happened, though, South Carolina would have to change it's laws. It's currently illegal there for citizens with concealed carry permits to take a gun into a church. Obviously that didn't stop Roof – but it would (and did!) stop ordinary citizens from defending themselves. I won't be a bit surprised if the police discover that one of the reasons Roof targeted a church is that it's a gun-free zone – so he knew that nobody would be defending themselves there...